Champions League Review – Matchday 5

Juventus 3-0 Chelsea

Chelsea’s hopes of progressing to the next stage of the Champions League were left in shatters after losing 3-0 in Turin. A goal late in the first half and two in the second half leave Chelsea now on the brink of becoming the first holders of the trophy to exit in the group stages. The first goal for Juventus came from a Pirlo shot that looked to pose little threat until it took a deflection off Quagliarella to wrong-foot Cech and roll into the net. Chelsea desperately needed a goal and to keep their hopes alive but Juventus started the second half with more purpose. Just past the hour mark Vidal fired a shot goalwards only for another cruel deflection from a Chelsea player to beat Cech once again. Torres was thrown into the mix but Chelsea continued not to carry threat and Juventus broke forward once again and substitute Giovinco slotted the ball past the on-rushing Cech. Chelsea now must win against Nordsjaelland by a significant amount of goals in order to have any chance of qualifying. Breaking news came this Wednesday morning that Roberto Di Matteo has been sacked by Chelsea after their defeat in Turin so they will now be looking for a new manager.

Valencia 1-1 Bayern Munich

Valencia narrowly missed out on moving to the top of Champion’s League Group F after the German team equalised in the closing stages. Valencia went into this game knowing they had already qualified but required a win in order to top the group. These plans hit a slight speed bump in the first half when they had a man sent off for a late tackle but this actually kick started Valencia’s best spell of the game. Bayern were unable to make their one man advantage for large parts of the game and on the 77th minute Feghouli unleashed a shot that somehow found its way into the back of the net to put the Spanish side 1-0 up. With nothing to lose, last year’s runners up threw men forward and it paid dividends when Muller fired a shot into the corner. The draw means that both sides will be in the mix for the next round although the group winner won’t be decided until the final match day.

Galatasaray 1-0 Manchester United

The three time European Champions had their 100% record in the Champions League this season come to a halt when they narrowly lost out by one goal in Turkey. Manchester United started the game top of the group with 12 points knowing that they had already qualified and so fielded a slightly weakened, younger team. Galatasaray on the other hand had everything to play for as second spot in the group is still up for grabs. The home side created the best chances and striker Burak Yilmaz scored his fifth goal of the group stage early in the second half in what proved to be enough to seal the 3 points. Galatasaray must win their next game against bottom of the group Braga to stand a chance of progressing while Manchester United can still play a part in who qualifies in their game against Cluj.